The last item on our list was to visit Hurst Castle...
More whale watching along the way. I really worried about Dana keeping up with us, especially on yesterday's hike - after all that he's been through, I think it was harder than he let on. He's a trooper.
Along the road in Big Sur, there is this lovely place; McWay falls. I never would have imagined it was there - from the road it's just a dusty little trail next to a rusty gate. Also called Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park. At one time it was the home of the afore named lady, who inherited it from her husband, who was a cattle rancher. It is said that she abandoned it because it was so isolated and she was so lonely there - you would think I would get that, being in somewhat the same situation, but looking at this view made it hard to imagine...
After hiking all over this place, I took a little snooze in the truck - when I woke up, we were at a fenced in beach where there were lots of people parked, looking over a chain link fence. I was a bit confused, having no idea where we were. It wasn't a particularly pretty section of beach or anything... This little guy was sitting on a bush just over the fence - he seemed as confused as I was...
Turns out, what the people were staring at was a hoard of elephant seals who come up on this beach to rest, socialize and molt in the warm sand.
There were so many of them lined up all the way down the beach - they were kind of funny to watch - they're not the most graceful creatures on land, and they kept flipping sand on themselves to keep cool. When the whole slew of them were doing it at once, it was quite a sight!
We arrived at San Simeon about lunch time, and we pulled into this little historic area to feed at the local burger joint. This is the only place in the area to eat, and the line was a long one - but it was worth it - best burger I've ever eaten! This little school house is on the lot...
There were some horses grazing in the field in front of it, and people were making a fuss over them while I was trying to get this shot - one of them looked at me a little accusingly, because I wasn't paying him any attention - I said, ok - I'll take your picture - at that, he turned around and backed his behind up against the fence, right in my face! True story.
I loved this house that is also on the lot - used to be occupied by Hurst's ranch hands...
The place is so expansive, that there are several different tours that you can take. We opted for the upstairs suites.
The grounds and the gardens were so beautiful, but I'm afraid the house was a bit of a disappointment to me. It was so dark and medieval looking... Like moving around in an elaborate tomb.
The library. Too dark to read!
I did love these doors... and the ceiling below was my favorite of all of them.
Mr. Hurst used this room as his office. It was said he spent most of his time here...
Hurst's father made his fortune when he found silver on the land - it shows in all the massive silver sconces in the house...
One of the balconies
I have to say, the pools were impressive...
As close to the high life as we'll ever get :-) And no, we didn't plan the matching outfits...
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